I've worked with this for 10 years and I strongly discourage you from doing this job. Women are generally good welders though, it's a precision job that takes time and foresight. But again, it's physically demanding. This is the cons of doing this:
1:You'll spend 8 hours a day looking into a very high intensity arc beam, even with tinted glass as protection (this glass can block out the sun's UV rays) you still get a lot of radiation straight into your eyes. This burns the retina and will eventually cause major damage to your eyes.
2: You'll work in a very warm environment. and I'm not talking 30 degrees here, try 50-60 degrees Celsius and we're getting closer. This leads to crisp dry skin and you're likely to develop exem(Not sure of the English word?) and a whole list of other various skin defects.
3: Extremely heavy lifting. We once did a calculation how much we generally lift everyday at work. We came up to over 10 tons overall/per person. This weight goes down straight to your back,neck and knees. This is not ergonomic lifting in any sense
4: Inhaling of dangerous gases/fumes and chemicals. Every day you'll have to snort out your nose because it becomes clogged by metallic dust and chemicals. This is only the crap that your mucosa picks up, rest goes straight down your lungs. This is smoking on an extreme level. Smoking is healthy in comparison.
Oh and also you're always at risk of being crushed to death by metal constructions, driven over by trucks and causing explosions when accidentally mixing one or another chemical that shouldn't be mixed. If you're cool with all that and still think the money's worth it, go ahead.
I've worked with this for 10 years and my back, neck is almost completely gone and hurt on a daily basis. My eyesight is that of a mole and my knees are starting to give out. And I'm 23. What about the rest of my 40 years of work life? xD